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magidWednesday night I went to the Loeb Ex production of Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll, adapted by Eva Le Gallienne1 and Florida Friebus2). Totally excellent, the play (scenes from both Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-glass, though some of my favorite bits weren't included ('Father William,' for instance) impressed me, the acting, the set, the costumes, the lighting, all coming together into a fabulous (in both senses) whole.
The set had a proscenium 'arch' painted with a lot of designs, including the card suits and the face of the Cheshire cat. Many of the pieces had handles on them, and some of those were hinged. It was interesting to imagine how someone would get up high enough to use these doors, however.
The proscenium was around a red curtain, which had irregular criss-crossing shadows on it, reminiscent of tree branches.
As the play started, a small puppet theater was pushed in front of the curtains, the kind that uses figures on sticks rather than more mobile puppets. Alice was shown falling down the rabbit hole, as narrated by the ever-sophisticated Cheshire cat.
After the 'drink me' 'eat me' scene, the curtains finally went up.... and the proscenium went down, angling down to a bit less than a 45 degree angle; there were supports underneath, and the stage was mostly the middle of the arch, with different characters popping up from the doors (which were lined with cards, except for the mushroom one), or once in a while on the higher ground behind, where there were trees 'growing' cards.
A very clever set, well used.
Very impressive, all around. The ones that were particularly outstanding included:
I really need to reread the book; I can recall some of the missing episodes, but by no means all. And I wonder whether it would work for someone who hasn't read the books, considering that the first half is all cards and the second half all chess, with no link between them other than Alice herself.
Other bits: the remote-controlled 'pig', the March Hare swinging down on a rope into the trial, the attempts by the Queen of Hearts to distract the King from the Knave's culpability, plastic inflated flamingoes.
Really, it's just a wonderful show, lots of fun, many laughs, one of the best things I've seen at the Loeb this year (and in the top 10 Loeb plays I've ever seen).
It's running through tomorrow night.
1 Am I the only one who wants that Le to be a La?
2 Best. Name. Evar.
The set had a proscenium 'arch' painted with a lot of designs, including the card suits and the face of the Cheshire cat. Many of the pieces had handles on them, and some of those were hinged. It was interesting to imagine how someone would get up high enough to use these doors, however.
The proscenium was around a red curtain, which had irregular criss-crossing shadows on it, reminiscent of tree branches.
As the play started, a small puppet theater was pushed in front of the curtains, the kind that uses figures on sticks rather than more mobile puppets. Alice was shown falling down the rabbit hole, as narrated by the ever-sophisticated Cheshire cat.
After the 'drink me' 'eat me' scene, the curtains finally went up.... and the proscenium went down, angling down to a bit less than a 45 degree angle; there were supports underneath, and the stage was mostly the middle of the arch, with different characters popping up from the doors (which were lined with cards, except for the mushroom one), or once in a while on the higher ground behind, where there were trees 'growing' cards.
A very clever set, well used.
Very impressive, all around. The ones that were particularly outstanding included:
- The Cheshire cat, who was all in purple, suit, head, neck, and all, a cat face painted on, long tail, glasses, and the most intriguing expressions.
- The table, the one upon which there were comestibles and keys, showed Alice's scale by raising and lowering the table top (rather extremely), and having the key in different sizes.
- The caterpillar had a green costume, a kind of large tube held out on all sides by hoops, his head also covered in green, a face painted on, and two pairs of white gloves, on one the person's hands, the other pair stuffed and attached below.
- The duchess, who had a wooden oval around her waist to show her supposed hippiness.
- The doormouse, all grey and fuzzy, falling asleep all over.
- The Queen of Hearts, wearing a top of red satin in the shape of a heart (the top of the heart being the bra) and a floor length skirt, white under ret netting with cards interspersed in it.
- Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee were women, and not dressed for battle at all, but in matching very bright green and yellow dresses, the skirts cut in vertical pieces that hid the white panels in them that had the illustrations of The Walrus and the Carpenter. Very clever (though I did find the twins rather scary compared to the book).
- Humpty Dumpty, like the caterpillar, had one of those wide hooped garments, this one white, except that it only went halfway down, where there was the red cravat, and little blue 'feet' coming out; the actor was behind the wall, of course (rather like classic segments in Sesame Street).
- And the white knight, silvery bits of armor over white padding, a silver-painted pail his helmet, and a white horse as well.
I really need to reread the book; I can recall some of the missing episodes, but by no means all. And I wonder whether it would work for someone who hasn't read the books, considering that the first half is all cards and the second half all chess, with no link between them other than Alice herself.
Other bits: the remote-controlled 'pig', the March Hare swinging down on a rope into the trial, the attempts by the Queen of Hearts to distract the King from the Knave's culpability, plastic inflated flamingoes.
Really, it's just a wonderful show, lots of fun, many laughs, one of the best things I've seen at the Loeb this year (and in the top 10 Loeb plays I've ever seen).
It's running through tomorrow night.
1 Am I the only one who wants that Le to be a La?
2 Best. Name. Evar.
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Date: 2006-05-12 07:17 pm (UTC)